[Svanur]

Just recently I bought myself a few charcoal pieces and I am having a blast.

I am just wondering whether there are any other Charcoalers here, and whether you have any tips for someone who wants to improve(any techniques, how is the best way to hold the charcoal etc etc etc, yack yack yack.)

Any help would be appreciated.

[ceenda]

I actually found that the type of paper you used made a large difference.

I started out on a cartridge pad and found it quite hard to get dark areas of shade. However, using rougher paper (even sugar paper) is quite effective.

I'm not sure if I used one with charcoals but a putty rubber is very useful if you can get one. Either that or a Steadlater eraser carved to a point. This is useful for suggesting highlights by removing areas of shade. It's also great for mist and smoke effects.

... I really should be working right now ...

[ceenda]

...

hmm... double posting... never happened before...

[This message has been edited by ceenda (edited September 08, 2000).]

[Svanur]

Thanks. I am still trying to figure out the shading part